The present invention relates to a communications system and method, an information processing apparatus and method, an information management apparatus and method, a recording medium and a program, and in particular relates to a communications system and method, an information processing apparatus and method, an information management apparatus and method, a recording medium and a program that make it possible to efficiently and comfortably make use of contents, which are stored in one server, from a plurality of devices connected via a network.
In recent years, high-capacity hard disks and DVD (Digital Versatile Disc) recorder drives have become relatively less expensive, and viewing television programs and the like using AV (Audio Visual) devices equipped with such devices is becoming popular.
In addition, even while viewing a television program or the like using such a device, in order to make it possible to stop viewing the television program and later resume viewing, a technology is disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2002-44586, mentioned below, where information representing stopped positions is listed and managed in association with identification information of television program data.
However, with the technology disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2002-44586, there is a problem in that the listed and managed information representing stopped positions is available only to the device that set it, and cannot be used by other devices.